Parentless
by JustJustine014
Summary: Emma thinks back to the time her mother died.
Emma was close to finally being fully moved in to the Moran household. Because Emma wasn't eighteen and had no legal guardian nearby, the government planned on sending her to a temporary foster home. Luckily, the Morans stepped forward and agreed to take her in. Once she turned eighteen, the Morans had expressed that they would let her make her own decision to what she really wanted to do and where she wanted to go. But no matter what, they made sure that Emma knew that she would always have a home with them. Words couldn't express how grateful Emma was, but that still didn't take away the pain. She no longer had the ability to say that she had parents. Her mother was dead and her monster of a _father_ was in jail. Sure her father was still alive, but that thing was no longer her dad. A small part of her felt guilty. She promised her mom to stay by her dad's side after her death. But then again, she couldn't even call that man her father. He had changed into a stranger that Emma no longer knew.

A long sigh escaped her lips as she unpacked the last of her things. She reached inside a small box and found the locket her mother had given her on the same day she died. It was a bit worn down, but that didn't matter to her. Emma grasped it tightly in her hands and closed her eyes as flashbacks flooded her mind.

 _Emma and her mom, Elaine, were going out to spend some mother-daughter time. They had planned this day of fun for weeks and were just about ready to leave. First, they were going to go to the park to ride their bikes around their usual spot while taking pictures. Then, they were going to watch a new movie and end the night off with a nice dinner. Emma knew that she would forever cherish this rare moment. Her mother's job often took up a lot of her time, but Emma didn't mind. She knew that her parents loved her and understood that they were just busy. After all, the money they made was the thing that put food on the table and a roof over their heads._

 _However, this didn't stop a young teenage Emma from being excited. She was jumping up and down like a high energizer bunny on three shots of espresso._

" _Sweetheart," her mother chuckled. "Stop jumping, or else you'll jump yourself all the way to the moon."_

" _That's not even possible!" Emma giggled. "You wouldn't be able to breathe in space."_

" _How do you know?" Mrs. Goodall asked in a playful, mocking voice. She grabbed her bag along with a small case that held something within it._

" _We learned all about space in my sixth grade class last year!"_

" _Well do you want to tell me about boring science class, or do you want to get in the car so we can leave? We're all set to go."_

 _Emma's eyes widened in excitement and was about to hop her way into the car. Before her daughter disappeared, Emma's mom managed to gently grabbed her arm to stop her. There was something she wanted to do before they left._

" _What?" Emma questioned. "Aren't we going? Is something wrong?"  
_

" _I want you to have this." she said as she placed a small rectangular case into Emma's hand. "I was going to give it to you on your birthday next week, but it couldn't wait. I want you to have this now."_

" _Mom..." Emma breathed. She opened the case and saw a gorgeous silver heart shaped locket. The locket opened three ways, and that's when Emma saw three different pictures. Her lips curled into a smile as she spotted the first picture of herself and Gia hugging each other. The next picture contained a picture of her family during her tenth birthday party. Her eyes strayed to the center of the locket and saw a picture of herself and her mom smiling happily. As Emma continued to look at the pictures in awe, Mrs. Goodall placed a thin silver chain around Emma's neck. Emma looked down in curiosity and discovered a necklace that was slightly smaller than the locket. On the necklace was a half inch sized silver key with a heart shaped bow, similar to heart shape of the locket._

 _"It's so you can lock it up when you're out. Don't wanna risk damaging the pictures inside, do we?"_

 _Emma looked up to her mom and jumped into her arms. "I love it." she whispered._

" _I love you." her mother hugged her back. They embraced the moment for as long as they could before they finally pulled away. Emma carefully put the locket back in its case along with the key and then placed it inside her pink backpack._

" _So, are you ready to go?"_

" _Yeah!" Emma pumped her first up into the air and raced to the car, almost crashing into the wall while doing so. In Emma's eyes, this was going to be the best day ever. Or she thought..._

-Parentless-

 _Emma woke up to pain. Pain everywhere. She vaguely remembered driving home after her and her mother's fancy dinner. The last thing she remembered was an incoming car speeding towards them. Emma's eyes widened and she slowly looked to her left at where her mom was supposed to be sitting. Tears welled in her eyes at the sight of her mother. Like herself, she was injured pretty badly. No, she was hurt a lot more Glass was sticking in her skin, gashes/numerous cuts covered her body, and Emma pretty sure that an arm wasn't supposed to bend that way. Her mother was almost unrecognizable._

" _M...Mom!" Emma choked out._

" _Shhh, it's okay honey." she said in a voice that was barely audible. "Thank God you're alive."_

" _You'll be okay, right?"_

 _Her mother was deathly pale and struggled to keep her eyes open. She gave a slight smile, but shook her head slowly. She could feel her consciousness gradually slip away as she lost more blood. This was it._

" _NO!" Emma screamed. "You can't do this mom! Dad needs you! I need you! Please, don't die!" Every bone and muscle in Emma's body protested in overwhelming pain, but Emma willed herself closer to her mom. She pressed her hands onto the huge gash on her mom's side in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but the blood quickly seeped through her fingers. She could only watch as her mother slowly bled to death. At this point, Emma was crying hysterically and hoped that someone saw what was happening so they could call 911._

 _It took every ounce of will power to keep her eyes open, so she knew that she needed to make these last few moments count. Mrs. Goodall shakily grabbed her daughter's hand with her good arm and gave her a loving squeeze "I'm proud of you, baby girl. I am so glad that you are my daughter. Never forget that, okay? Tell your father that I love him and stick by his side through this. It'll be hard, but I don't want you guys to be miserable. Do your best to move on. I want you to be happy again. Do whatever it takes for you to be happy."_

 _"But I don't want to move on! I want you! I want you to stay! Please mom, don't go! Don't leave me!_ _"_

 _Mrs. Goodall brushed Emma's hair out of her face and wiped her tears. Her daughter's words were breaking her heart. She wished that she just had a few more minutes, but time wasn't on her side. With the last of her energy, Mrs. Goodall managed a weak smile. "I'll always be with you in your heart. The world can never take that away from us._ _I love you, I always have, and I always will." her mother's eyes slowly closed and the hand on Emma dropped._

 _Emma frantically searched for a pulse, but found happened. Her mother's body laid on the car seat unmoving. Her mother was dead._

 _More tears flooded Emma's face as she realized that her mom was actually gone. A heart breaking cry was released as Emma clung to her newly deceased mother. She was never coming back. She would no longer hear her mother's sweet voice. She would no longer feel her gentle touch. There were no longer going to be any home cooked meals or even bike rides with her mother. She heard the sirens coming, but they were too late. She didn't care about anything anymore. Her mother was dead._

 _The firefighters pried open the car and took Emma out first. They were forced to cut through the seatbelt and had to take out her entire seat. Once she was out safely. several paramedics rushed in and immediately took them away. She was quickly immobilized, placed onto a stretcher, and then taken into the ambulance._ _In the corner of her eyes, she saw her dad at the scene holding something with tears in his eyes. She looked to see what he was holding and saw that it was her mother's hand. It was only recognizable due to the unique ring on her finger. Besides her arms and legs, her mother's body had been covered up, ready to be put into a body bag. Her mother was dead._

" _Dad!" Emma called out weakly from inside of the ambulance. Emma assumed that her father had been called to inform him of his family's tragic accident. Her father turned around and locked eyes with Emma. Emma was expecting to him be distraught, but no… she saw pure anger in his eyes. But who was he angry with? Was he angry at the driver that caused this? If so, then why did he look so furious at her?_

" _Get her out of here." His voice spoke with a venom she had never heard him speak with._

 _Everything after that was a blur for Emma. She spent weeks in the hospital recovering both physically and emotionally from everything that had occurred. She remembered staying in the hospital on her birthday, hoping that her father would come and see her. But he never did. Misery and lonliness were the only things that kept her comapny. The only people she saw regularly were Gia and her parents. During one of those visits, they told her that they managed to salvage her pink backpack and gladly returned it to her. She clung onto it tightly and checked the inside of her bag. Luckily, her things weren't damaged too badly, almost as if it was never in an accident. What bothered her the most was that h_ _er father would only visit to sign a few papers, but then left without a word._ _Emma didn't know what was going to happen, but she knew one thing for sure; things were never going to be the same._

And things did change. He father began to abuse her. He abused her for almost five long, painful years. However, if Emma were to be honest, she wasn't really afraid to stand up to him. She was just afraid of breaking of breaking her promise. She had this weird mindset that if she stayed by her dad's side, then maybe he would change. Maybe he would start to love her again if she kept her mom's promise. It's why she tolerated all the pain for so long. But no, nothing changed. Instead, she slowly became closed off, intent with keeping her secret. No one needed to know her business. This was her life and her own problems to solve. No one else needed to get themselves involved in her mess.

Emma was just grateful to have Gia as her best friend. Even though Gia knew that something was wrong with Emma, she never pushed. She helped her so much without even knowing it. Knowing that she had someone by her side helped her endure all the pain. In fact, her whole family helped her. The Morans helped fill the void of Emma not having loving parents. She treated her as if she were there own. When they were by her side, she didn't feel so hurt and alone.

"Now that's no way to treat such a nice piece of jewelry." Mrs. Moran had seen Emma spacing out on the floor and felt the need to check on her. Every time she saw Emma, her heart broke into tiny little pieces. What had happened to that poor young girl was unfair and cruel. Why did her wonderful, loving mother have to die while her abusive father lived, only to torture what little family he had left. Her father was now in prison, but that left Emma, a child, with no parents. A girl who probably longed for a loving set of parents for years. Even though Emma would be eighteen in a little less than a year, she was still just a girl, and a girl needs her parents.

"I miss her." Emma whispered.

"Who, Gia? She's just across the hall. I can go get her if you want." Mrs. Moran was ready to go get Gia, but Emma's voice stopped her.

"No, my mom. I miss my mom." Emma sighed as the memories of her mom came back again. Mrs. Goodall could see a few tears forming in the younger girl's eyes and let out her own little sigh.

Truth be told, Mrs. Moran had also missed her best friend dearly. Mrs. Moran's best friend throughout high school and college was Emma's mom. If it weren't for Elaine, then she probably wouldn't have met her husband, Matt. Before Elaine started dating Marc, Matt and Marc had already been good friends for a numerous amount of years. Once Elaine and Marc started going out, Elaine introduced them all to each other. After that, Matt and herself had immediately hit it off. They fell in love, eventually got married, and had Gia. The rest was history.

Mrs. Moran sat down next to Emma and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "You know, I miss her too sometimes."

"Really?" Emma looked up and stared at the older woman with curiosity. She knew that her parents used to be friends with the Morans, but she never really knew how close they were.

"Of course, she was the one friend that was always there for me. I knew that I could always count on her when I needed someone to lean on. Plus, I couldn't talk about how great Matt was with Matt. We had some pretty great times together." Mrs. Moran chuckled.

"Do you think it'll ever get easier?" Emma asked. "There were times that I dreamt that mom was still alive and that she'd just walk through the door at any second. Then maybe, my family would be a perfect whole again. Sometimes, I wish I could just jump back in time and stay there forever. That way, I wouldn't have to watch my family get slowly taken apart. We could all be a happy family."

"Honey, no family will ever be perfect. What happened to yours was tragic, but maybe it worked out for the best."

"What…"

Mrs. Moran shook her head and continued to speak before Emma assumed the worst. "Your father had a temper. The way he treated you could've happened at any other time, even if your mother was still alive."

"But he never…"

"It was still inside of him to do it. After your mother died, I believe that the _monster_ inside of him was set free. However, that didn't give him the right to treat you like how he did. Your mother would've left him in a heartbeat if she saw what he had become. If he has the potential to act like that, then you shouldn't be with him."

"But he's my dad." Emma murmured. "I promised mom that I would stand by his side. We were supposed to help each other."

"Was, Emma, he _was_ your dad. But no father lays his hand upon his daughter like that."

"And what about my mom? What good could possibly come out of my mom dying?"

Mrs. Moran sighed deeply at her question. She knew the answer, but wasn't sure if it was time for her to know the truth. It would be horrible timing for her to find out know, but then she looked at the pleading girl's eyes. She had a right to know. With a deep breath, Mrs. Moran walked out of the room momentarily and came back with two items. In her left hand, she was carrying what seemed to be like an old yearbook while her other hand carried a small case.

"When you're ready," Mrs. Moran sat back down and grabbed Emma's hands. She wore a serious look, one that she hardly ever put on. "I want you to look at this yearbook. You'll find your answer in there."

Emma was slightly confused by Mrs. Moran's request, but slowly nodded her head anyways. If Mrs. Moran said that something good came out of her mother's death, then she wanted to find out what that was. She kept a mental note for herself to take a look at the book later.

"What's in the case?"

Mrs. Moran beamed brightly and it. Emma's eyes almost jumped out of her head. It was her mother's ring

"But… but... how?" Emma barely managed to get the words out of her mouth. Her mother's ring was nowhere to be found after the medics had taken her. People told her that it probably slipped off and got lost, so she believed them. The ring was one of the last things on her mind. She had no reason to believe that they were lying.

"I saw it at a pawn shop a few days ago. I didn't think it was the real deal until I saw this tiny little chip." Mrs. Moran gestured to the barely visible scratch on the ring's shank.

"How did you know about that crack? I knew it was there, but I don't know how it got there."

"I was there when she scratched it." Mrs. Moran smirked. "Let's just say we still did some pretty dumb stuff together, even after we were both married. Some of the things we did weren't really on the safe side. But anyways, I want you to have it." She gently grabbed Emma's hand and placed the ring on her finger. A bright smile etched her face when she saw that it was a perfect fit.

Emma's eyes started to fill with tears as she stared at the ring in awe. She shook her head, ready to take it off. "I can't keep this Mrs. Moran. This belongs to you! You found this fair and square."

"And now I'm giving it to you. It's what your mother would have wanted."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Emma could no longer keep the tears in and hugged the older woman as she sobbed loudly. "I miss her."

"It'll get easier, sweetie." Mrs. Moran rubbed Emma's back and closed her eyes. "I promise."

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Moran." Emma whispered.

"Call me Jennifer. It'll make me feel younger." she said in an attempt to brighten up the mood. It seemed to work when she saw Emma's lips curl into a small smile. What Mrs. Moran couldn't see though was Emma's huge grin in the inside. In a way, she still had parents who loved her.


End file.
